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Wrapping the deflector in foil runs the risk if it literally burning up - turning to black ashes with a smokey, acrid smell. Been there - done that! You're much better off using a drip pan such as an appropriate sized deep dish pizza pan. This will help keep your deflector clean. Your other option is to reverse the deflector from cook to cook, as suggested above. That will burn off any crud.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there. Hope you're having a wonderful time and getting pampered.

Tuesday Morning sells a lot of end-of-season, over-stock, over-run and other odds and ends. I've scored some really good deals at our local TM but their stock varies from store to store and is not constant - when they are out, that's it. So it's kind of a crap shoot. They do have some good deals on quality items but you have to keep checking and read their ads.

Glad I went with the Edge Pro Apex system several years ago. I put a Henkels Four Star knife set together and the Edge Pro does a good job at keeping them sharp. Angles are marked and the it's easy to use.

So what smoke wood did you use? LOL!

Any chance of fencing or enclosing your parking pad? Probably be a bit costly but more secure. Another thought is to install a small tool shed on your parking pad and roll your Kamado in and out for storage and use.

For low & slow, a MAPP or Propane plumber's torch works well. I use a Harbor Freight propane torch. https://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-with-push-button-igniter-91037.html Works great and gets things going in no time.

The basics for paella, as I understand it, are the pan, rice, sofritto, and broth. From there on it’s pretty much open to your taste and ingredient availability. Originally, people added what they had available in their region at the time in which included rabbit and snail for protein. Other regions of Spain used prawns, mussels and peppers. As paella became more wide spread, people began to substitute and add things like chicken, sausage, pork, ham, seafood including shrimp, clams, lobster and various fish. In his book, “La Paella: Deliciously Authentic Rice Dishes by Jeff Koehler” , the author lists recipes for all seafood, all meat, all vegetable and mixed meat and seafood paellas. There is even one recipe for an all mushroom paella.There are other books on paella available and a ton of YouTube videos also. One thing I’ve observed is that many recipes use amounts of ingredients for a 15 or 16 inch paella pan which is sufficient for about 4 to 6 servings. If cooking for a larger or smaller group, it means a larger or smaller pan is required and the amounts of ingredients must be scaled up or down.

No experience with Thermopro so can't comment on them. I've made several purchases from Thermoworks over the years including 2 Thermapens for my use, 5 Thermapens for gifts, an IR thermometer and a pH meter. All have been top rate and trouble free.

Thermopro and Thermoworks are two different companies. I'd be surprised if they honor each othes warranties. Thermoworks https://www.thermoworks.com/ Thermopro buythermopro.com/

Interesting conversation you had with Thermoworks however this is from the Thermoworks site... https://blog.thermoworks.com/thermometer/new-warning-thermoworks-website-2/ There is also a yellow banner on the top of the home page regarding Amazon and other resellers.

Had a similar experience earlier this year with a Costco prime brisket I did on my offset. It was approximately 15 pounds and blew through the stall temp range with no hesitation. Total cook time was 10 hours at ~250 deg. Final meat temp was ~200 deg. and probe tender. A few weeks ago I did two more 15 pound prime briskets on the offset - same as before. Used a temp probe in each brisket and the two temperatures tracked within a degree or two of each other. Both briskets hit the stall stage in the 160 ish degree range and sat there for a long time. Total cook time was 15 hours with a final temp of ~200 degrees and probe tender. Go figure.

Interesting thread and I agree with all that has been posted. I never thought of us as food snobs - actually never thought about it at all till it was mentioned, I do think that we have become a lot more critical of what we consume. Preparing the food we eat is not only fun but also educational. So many recipes and so little time. LOL! Controlling what we eat and how it is prepared is a great advantage over going out for a meal. Besides the advantages listed in threads above regarding home cooking, it’s really nice to be a able to enjoy a martini or two while grilling and not worry about driving home after having a drink. The meals are generally cheaper than going out and we usually cook enough to have a few leftovers for breakfast or lunch the next day. And, with all due respect to Cap’n Crunch, I do prefer a fish taco, brisket or pulled pork sandwich for breakfast. LOL! I also like the dress code for cooking at home - T-shirts, shorts and flip flops for the better part of the year.

I've done numerous tri-tips and always grill them direct to a temp of about 120 to 125 degrees for medium rare. Never had one taste gamey. I like to cut a pocket in them and stuff them with pablano chilis and cheese. Makes a great meal. Tri-tip is part of the sirloin and I don't know why it would be gamey unless you got some bad beef.